St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-24

MS nlSnt glasses. cOulu see tllaC he
was an old man, having long white
locks and long white beard. Why, sir,
| would stake my life on what /
saw, though it would be useless to try
TO make you believe it. Just as the
stern of the ship was passing me her
captain raised his hand, as if the motion
accompanied an order, and there was a
rush OF the men to execute it. Sail was
taken i'll while you could snap your fin
ger, AMI the helm was put down, and
the ship came into the wind. She wasn't
stones throw away then, and my eyes
were still on her, when some one behind
me hoarSely exclaimed:
my God! Mr.. Merwin, but did you
ever see the likes of itf"
turned to see one of the men behind
me. turned from him again to the
strange craft, and she was gone! 1t took
me two or three minutes TO realize that
there was no wind and no sea, and that
no ship could have man9uvered as she
did, and then | asked of the man:
Jones, what did you see?''
81 got a chill, sir, though it's warm
enough, as we all know, and awoke to
find you looking off at the water. AS l
stood on my feet saw the ship, and L
was right behind you when she short
ened sail and came up.''
And where is she now?'
''Gone, sir. That's ghost ship, sir,
and we are in for bad luck"
could have kicked myself for believ-
ing in what l saw. | went after the
glasses, and just as | got them the
lashings holding the whale on the port
side gave way with great crash, the
bark keeled to starbOard with the
weight of the other fish, and as she
rocked back the other lashings parted,
and we ran to the rails, port and star
board, in time to see the whales sink
out of sight. The whole crew were
aroused and the captain stormed in a
terrible way, but as no one was to blame
no one could be censured. Next day it was
known through the ship that the Flying
Dutchman had been sighted, and,
strangely enough, there was not skep-
tic. The captain made me relate the de-
tails over twice, and then he ordered
sail on the bark and we stood down the
Brazilian coast for $50 miles. The
whales had suddenly left us, and it was
exactly nine days before the cry
of ''There she blows!" was
heard again. We lowered for a
forty-barrel whale and got him,
and our old-time enthusiasm returned
We had got him tried out and the decks
cleaned up when it came OH calm, quiet
night again. The men had had a long
rest, and every one of the watch was
wide awake, when, at about II O'Clock
with everything quiet allow and aloft
| the lookout suddenly called:
There's big ship close aboard of u:
on the Starboard bowr'
Every man Sprang up and we al
| rushed forward in body, and there
plain as lighted lamp at midnight, was
big ship tearing down upon us, anC
only cables length away. Not one OF
us remembered that it was dead calm
| and we yelled out in chorus to attract the
strangers attention. He held for us
| until | could see the sparkle of copper
under his fore foot, and then shift of the
helm sent him along our broadside, an(
| the performances of the previous occa
sion were repeated. He went out o.
| sight after rounding to, and by tina
| time our captain was on deck. He ques
| told the same story, and later on. as he
| stood with me on the quarter, he said:
'Mr. Merwin, that's bad luck again.I
may mean something more than losing
whale.''
Next day we raised whale and h,
stove two boats and killed three men
| and it was eleven days after that befor,
we raised another. On the night of til,
| 10th, with all the men in my watch Wild
awake, and the ship drifting before
gentle breeze, the ghostly visitor CAM
out of the darkness again, and wa
seen as plainly as before. Mex
ay we raised three whales at once
Down went three boats, the captain
leading. l killed my whale almost a
once. The other boats made fast an,
were run off, and from that day to thi
have never been heard of. We saw tn
stranger no more after that. Had h
appeared once more believe that ever
man of the crew wOnld have leaped int
the sea and sought death by drowning